Once Upon A Time in Agrabah
by Hanamie
Summary: Introducing rags to riches Aladdin, his story, and some pre-existing characters from OUAT. Includes Prince Eric, Rumplestiltskin, Abu, the Carpet & eventually Princess Jasmine,
1. In Which our Heroes are introduced

**In which our heroes are introduced. **

The streets, generally, were narrow, cramped and, more than anything, overwhelmingly scorching. The worn, dusty buildings either side packed together and moulded from baked clay; some had small windows, the higher up the building the wider the windows, none had glass, but occasionally there were windows with some form of curtain or carpet covering the otherwise open windows. In the less privileged areas of Agrabah, which were more prevalent than the wealthy areas, there were too many people to count: trying to sell you things, trying to buy things to sell on, trying to sell themselves for various occupations: begging for money and, or food. Prince Eric wandered through the over-crowded streets without any real purpose now that the rest of his companions had fled, were missing, or deceased, now that he had finally reached the bustling and exotic Agrabah. Agrabah was supposed to be just one of the stops on Eric's grand tour of the world. Thinking of his half-shattered dream reminded the Prince of the beautiful girl he'd danced with: Ariel, the girl who had appeared in his dreams after the shipwreck. Lost in his own thoughts and reminisces Eric continued to aimlessly stroll through the rougher district of Agrabah, not paying much attention to those he passed on the streets. As he went to turn a corner Eric felt a sudden pull from his middle, from his belt.

As he walked the streets that he knew like the back of his hand, his mind too, like Eric's began to wander, began to dream: of a better life, a life as the mighty and most importantly, wealthy, Prince Ali! But alas, he remained the lowly street-rat that he truly was. Despite his low-standing in life he was famed throughout the lowest and most depraved regions of the large, dusty city. Famed for his thievery and for his daring, dangerous, impressive, escapes from the law, or what little law there was in the lower districts, he had been a street urchin for many a year now. So long, in fact, that at times, he even forgot his hard-working father, and his beloved, long-suffering mother, who had died due to his own laziness, due to his desire to waste his days rather than learn a trade of his own. The combined stress and hunger eventually killed her; but being young and fairly strong he had endured, vowing that he would never go hungry again, whether through legal means or otherwise, whatever the price, though even to him this seemed an overly dramatic promise. Now, unlike Eric, as he had lived on the streets he had learned to keep his wits about him, regardless of where his mind took him, to be on the lookout for the latest opportunity. He eventually came to a fork, a corner he often favoured when seeking someone caught off guard, caught in the hustle-and-bustle to pilfer something from, be it money, food, or something he could take to market to sell on. Spotting his target he prepared himself for his work. As nonchalantly as he could muster he leant against the corner of the building attempting to blend in; his dirt-ridden clothes and dark skin always helped. Besides no-one paid any attention to a young street-rat leaning against a wall. As his latest patron, as he inwardly named them, approached he readied himself. The man began to turn the corner, quite close to the wall, as he appeared deep in thought, not fully conscious of his surroundings-the best kind of patron. The thief reached out is hand toward the passer-by's waist, and purse hanging from a rather beautiful belt-it was a shame he couldn't take that too, it would fetch a god price in the market. He gave it a short, sharp pull (the cord looked old and weak), just as his fingers closed around it. However, although the purse strings loosened slightly it had been more securely fastened than the seasoned thief anticipated, and the tug had alerted the patron to his presence. Ashe was more alert than his patron, realising that he would undoubtedly have felt the tug, daydreaming or not, he fell into a sprint, hoping to put as much distance between himself and his patron as physically possible.

Eric remained in his daydream and so although he felt a sharp pull at his belt, was slow to react. He was no great fighter, this much he knew, but Eric was particularly adept at running, but the thief had the advantage, he had the head start and knew the city certainly better than Eric did; but a split second later he was dashing after the thief, dodging as many civilians as possible along the way. The thief was leaner than Eric and so when Eric tried to run pat and around the same citizens that the thief was able to, he found himself pushing past them more often than not, and bowling over many of them. Normally he would've stopped to apologise and help the mostly innocent bystanders, but there were more pressing matter: the thief was getting away! Despite this, Eric managed to close in on the young man, he could almost touch his back with his finger-tips…he stretched out his hand…and managed to grab the back of his tattered waistcoat! However, Eric had lunged forward to grab the rag and his momentum carried him over and he fell on top of the thief. Eric sat up, so that the young man was trapped between his knees

'Now I don't want to fight you, but you _will_ give me my money back'

The thief squirmed under Eric's weight: 'At least let me up first!'

'You can turn round, to face me, but nothing more' Eric lent back on his heels slightly to let the thief up, but taking his chance, he pushed the Prince backwards and jumped up, ready to sprint away, 'You're really not from around here are you?'

'What gave me away?'

'Everything really', the thief replied, not sure why he hadn't run yet, why he had decided to stay with the newcomer.

Slowly standing up, Eric warily approached the thief standing at the entrance to the alleyway they'd somehow found themselves in, 'So, if you're going to keep that money, can I at least know who stole it from me?'

Hesitating the thief thought it through, holding out his hand with a smile he introduced himself: 'Aladdin, name's Aladdin.'


	2. In Which an Agreement is Reached

'Aladdin huh?'

'Yep, yourself?'

'Eric,' he hesitated, and whispered, 'Prince Eric'

'So a Prince…Why're you in this area of Agrabah then? Shouldn't you be with the _Sultan_?'

'If you must know, _thief Aladdin_, I'm lost, and the rest of my expedition are either dead or missing, so yes, I'm in this district. Besides you learn more about a city from its less fortunate than from the rich' Eric replied,

Ignoring the evident sarcasm in his use of 'thief' Aladdin continued, 'Well instead of stealing your money, I can take you as close to the palace as a lowly street-rat can get-for a price. But at this time of day, you probably won't get in, you'll most likely have to wait until tomorrow'

Aladdin could see that his royal patron was mulling the offer over, 'Take me to the Palace, then somewhere I can stay, and you can keep two-thirds of that bag'

Now, Aladdin thought to himself, I could just run and take the lot…

However, for some unbeknownst reason he found himself quite liking the Prince, reduced to wandering an unknown city on his own, so agreed.

The beginning of their journey was rather awkward, Aladdin having tried to steal from Eric, but Eric decided to break the ice, by asking questions about Agrabah, the history, its architecture, its people. Aladdin knew a fair amount of the answers, but his factual knowledge was sketchy, but he knew everything about the people of the large city, both in the poor districts and the wealthy ones.

'And that guy over there,' Aladdin continued his tour, quite enjoying himself by now, pointing to a rather large merchant, 'thinks he's smart, but it's really easy to steal the fruit from him, especially when his wife pops round, at more or less the same time every day to complain about something or other, and to just generally shout at him, in fact…' Aladdin trailed off looking at the sun's position in the sky. A women wrapped in light pink came striding through the market, looking determinedly at the sizeable merchant. As the dark-haired pretty woman approached him, the merchant appeared to groan.

'Here we go,' looking over at Eric, Aladdin asked, 'You hungry?'

'But…but that's _stealing_! I could just buy it!' Eric protested astounded at the suggestion.

'Hey, you can buy yours, but I'm borrowing mine'

Sidling up to the stand whilst the merchant's back was turned, engrossed in his shouting match with his wife, Aladdin knocked the stall slightly so that two apples rolled of the surface, into his waiting hand, he returned to Eric, and grinning bit into one of the apples, 'Want one?'.

Rather begrudgingly Eric took the apple proffered him by Aladdin.

Aladdin smiled at him and glanced round, _how odd_…the merchant and his wife looked completely frozen, as did the woman bartering for some cloth from a skinny, rat-faced merchant at the stall next to them, in fact turning to look around everyone in the market had frozen solid, except for himself and Prince Eric.

Turning back towards Eric Aladdin breathed 'What the…' only to be interrupted by a voice behind him:

'Hello Dearies'


	3. In Which the Dark One Makes a Deal

'Hello Dearies'

Spinning on the spot, becoming slightly dizzy with the amount of turning on the spot he'd done in the last 30 seconds or so, Aladdin saw a scaly skinned…what he supposed must be a demon or imp standing a few feet from him in a space among the throng of frozen people.

'Well seeing as you're both speechless in my, _inspiring_, presence, I'll give you my offer of a deal'

'Wait, who, _what_ the hell are you?' Aladdin exclaimed,

'I, my sophisticated thief, am the Dark One,' at this the scaly creature took an extravagant and rather low bow, 'and next time you interrupt me _dearie_, you'll regret it. Now _Aladdin_…'

'How do you know my…' interrupted Aladdin, finding his words cut off, he tried to speak, moving his mouth, but no words came out,

'That was generous. I'd take some advice from your Prince-y friend and keep it shut,' A shrill demonic laugh erupted from the impy little man, 'now, I'm here to make a deal dearie, you do a little job for me, and I'll give you wealth beyond your imagination, understand?'

Aladdin tried to speak, but when no sounds came out, he merely nodded.

The Dark One snapped his fingers.

He and Aladdin were transported to an oasis in the middle of the desert, what appeared to be miles away from the grand city.

Eric was nowhere to be seen.

'You go into the cave, and get me the lamp, once you have given it to _moi, _you will receive your reward, understand?'

Aladdin shook his head, and shrugged his shoulders,

Sighing dramatically the crocodile-skinned man waved his hands in the air, 'What?!'

Aladdin, with his voice now returned to him said 'What Cave?'

Removing a candle and a beetle shaped golden miniature from inside his long coat he placed them on the ground in front of him, lighting the candle with yet another wave of his hand. As he did so, the sand of the oasis parted and a whole was created the shape of a huge gaping mouth, including sandy, surprisingly sharp, teeth.

'That Cave. In you go dearie. Only touch the lamp. It's plain, but important, if you touch anything else you, and my lamp, will be trapped inside forever.'

Aladdin hesitated, on the one hand, he needed the money that this lizard-y man was speaking of, and going into a cave to get a lamp didn't seem _that_ dangerous…surely?

'Why don't you get it yourself?'

'Well I can't dearie, otherwise I wouldn't need a nosey little street-brat would I? It's protected by certain magic, I can't enter. Off you go.'

No more reassured but tempted by the promised wealth Aladdin descended the steps into the cave.


	4. In Which Our Hero is Trapped

As he descended into the gaping pit in the ground, Aladdin turned and saw the scaly man standing a little way back from the entrance watching him beady-eyed.

Taking a deep-breath the young Aladdin continued to carefully make his way down the steep, stone stairs. There were torch brackets lining the walls, though the interviews between such brackets were erratic, meaning that for some sections of his descent his was fumbling, in near-complete darkness; and when he did eventually come to another torch the light cast eerie flickering, shadows across the walls, like fire daemons dancing in debauched delight.

After what felt like centuries, with many twists and turns Aladdin finally reached the bottom of the seemingly never-ending staircase. Unlike the irregular torches of the staircase the vast space into which Aladdin entered was fantastically well lit-though there were no visible torches. Nor were there any actual indications of light, no beams, or rays, nor shafts of light, just a general bright illumination. Looking around the cave Aladdin was astounded beyond words, there were more riches in this unbelievably mammoth space than he had seen in his lifetime that he would have ever seen in his lifetime, if it wasn't for the scaly crocodile man, the Dark One.

There were rubies the size of his eyes; emeralds the size of fists; topaz; diamonds; amber; heliotrope; opals; jade; and many more that Aladdin didn't know the names of. There was gold enough to buy the world, and silver enough to drown a country.

Remembering why he had been sent to this cave of wonders Aladdin physically shook himself.

_Get on with it, the sooner you get this damn lamp the sooner you can have wealth equal to the contents of the cave. _

Walking the seemingly natural path between the stacks of precious metals and jewels, Aladdin wondered where this lamp was meant to be inside this gigantic cave. Following the path Aladdin thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Shaking himself again he continued along the path and saw a large mound up ahead with steps leading to the top.

From his position at the bottom of the steps he could see something small at the top of mound, something…vaguely lamp shaped…_Right, this is it, just climb up those steps, take the lamp and leave._

He climbed to the top of the mound, and when he reached the top was surprised at what he found there. Placed on a little pedestal there was a small, mundane, bronze lamp.

_So, this must be what that guy was after, I wonder what's so great about it…_

Picking up the lamp Aladdin turned and descended the steps. Despite, or perhaps because of, the amount of riches in the vast space the cave felt eerie and mysterious. Suddenly he saw movement again from the corner of his eye…_it really is disturbing_. Creeped out, Aladdin practically ran back to the entrance, and took the steps two at a time.

When finally the top was in sight Aladdin felt his strength leave him, exhausted and hungry his knees buckled under him and he collapsed, with two more steps to go. He could see the Dark One waiting.

'Hurry up boy,' the Dark One screeched, 'the cave won't remain open forever!'

'Help me then' Aladdin retorted,

'My powers don't extend past the entrance, I can't dearie, you will have to manage by yourself'

'Just give me your hand, and help me out! I can't feel my legs!'

Hesitating, the Dark One replied, 'Pass me the lamp, and then I shall help'

Aladdin would have protested, but he could see a large stone, gradually descending at an angle to block of the exit. Panicking Aladdin threw the lamp up to the daemon and held out his hand to receive the Dark One's aid.

'Oh no, dearie, you can stay down there and rot!' Cackled the Dark One, clutching the oh-so precious lamp.

'WE HAD A DEAL!' Aladdin screeched as the stone descended.

As the last crack of light began to disappear he heard the creature roar through the gap 'I said you would have wealth dearie, and down there, there is as much as you could ever want!' Cackling once again, the last bit of natural daylight disappeared, and Aladdin was trapped in the cave.


	5. The Arrival of a Certain Tiny Friend

**_AN: Sorry it's been such a long-time, but I've been going through my exams for the first year of Uni at the moment, so it's been stressful, but I'm back, and will hopefully be able to post more regularly, for anyone who's still reading!_**

Without warning the stone steps underneath Aladdin turned to a slope and Aladdin felt himself begin to slide, not even attempting to resist, due to exhaustion and his despair, hardly anything had gone right in his life, and now he was trapped in a cave. Left to die.

By the time he reached the bottom of the long slope, although he was still exhausted he was also enraged. That scaly no-good double-dealer had used him and left him to die, in this gods-forsaken-hole.

At a loss as to what to do Aladdin got up and began to wander around the cave, to see if he could find some previously unnoticed exit. As he was wandering he could've sworn that he saw movement just out of the corner of his eye. He slowed to barely a walking pace, running his hands over the many jewels and pieces of precious metals that surrounded him. Aladdin slowly looked around, attempting to seem nonchalant and to be surveying the treasures around him.

_**THERE!**_

Suddenly he saw the movement again and looking towards the sign of movement, between two piles of gold coins, he slowly knelt down and held out his hand, like one would as a peace sign to a frightened animal. He remained completely still- a talent he gained from pickpocketing- for at least a minute. Just as he was about to give up, he saw two large diamonds glistening through the darkness quite close to the ground. Extending his arm slowly, as far as he could reach- still a few feet from the glistening, floating diamonds- Aladdin made what he hoped to be a reassuring, low, almost clucking sound through his teeth, as an attempt at reassurance and encouragement.

The diamonds remained firmly in place, but after he repeated the sound for the third time the diamonds began to emerge from the shadows.

As they slowly, but gracefully snuck forward, the form began to take a clearer shape, and it suddenly dawned on him: _They're eyes!_

The shape finally emerge completely out of the shadows and a small monkey of some form reached out and touched his index finger with his paw and then rather abruptly the monkey swung itself onto Aladdin's arm and then ran up to sit on his shoulder!

'Hello, little guy!' Somewhat surprised at the little- he assumed he was a capuchin- monkey's antics, though they were known for being rather friendly and brave.

The monkey began to inspect Aladdin's dirty hair-he's a street rat after all!- rather enthusiastically, gently tugging at strands to move them apart, to study the roots.

'Have you got a name?' Aladdin asked his new found friend-in-need, realising that he had a tiny waistcoat on, with, although Aladdin was not adept at reading, _Abu_ embroidered across the back in a light pink against the deep, yet dusty royal purple.

'Abu, huh? I wonder where you came from then? To have a little waistcoat with your own name on! Well Abu shall we try to find a way out, hmm?'


End file.
